Local hockey players anticipate senior games

Huntsville Forester

MUSKOKA - Local hockey players are gearing up for some competition and fun at the Ontario Winter Senior Games this year.
Utterson resident Terry Gill and Parry Sound resident Allan Dawson meet in Bracebridge each week to play hockey on the 55+ team. The two men along with three more teammates will be competing in the senior games which take place in Huntsville this year.
The team, which consists of six players from North Bay, five from Huntsville, and five from Bracebridge, met for their first practice as a team on Thursday.
Gill, who has played hockey for more than 65 years, said the hockey was fast, competitive, and fun to watch.
“I can’t believe how fast some of these guys skate and they’re in their 70s,” the 72-year-old said.
Every two years the Ontario 55+ Winter Games take place at a different location in the province providing competition for seniors in alpine skiing, badminton, curling, duplicate bridge, ice hockey, Nordic skiing, prediction skating, table tennis, ten pin bowling and volleyball.
This year players from Bracebridge to North Bay combined to create a hockey team in the 65+ category to compete in the games which will take place in Huntsville from Feb 26 - Feb. 28.
Dawson, who grew up in Bracebridge, abandoned hockey for 20 years while he moved around the province during his career with the OPP. Three years ago he settled down in Parry Sound and began playing hockey again, travelling to Bracebridge every Wednesday to play with his friends.
“Hockey is just a great adventure because you’re playing with other people in your same age group, you’re participating with people in your same age group and you’re staying healthy and it’s just amazing to see some of the guys out there as high as 80 and 82 playing hockey,” he said.
Though Dawson suspects the main objective of the winter games is to help seniors maintain their health and get into sports, he echoes what other locals have said in their anticipation of the games.
“We’re all in it for the same thing, having fun,” he said.
Gill considers it a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“It’s just thrilling to be part of it at this age,” he said.
“I know we often say in our 30s we never expect to be able to play hockey in our 40s and now here we are in our 50s, 60s, 70s.”
He jokes when the team reassembles each fall the players first question is which body part they got replaced in the last year.
Although Muskoka has the highest number of seniors in Ontario, many go south for the winter, limiting the number of players that can play on the local team. With many teams from larger areas such as Toronto with a much larger selection pool for players, Gill expects the level of competition to be high.
“But we just want to be involved and kind of be there to welcome the other teams and just be part of it,” he said.
Gill encourages people to come out to watch the games, suggesting they will be surprised at the speed, accuracy and determination of the players.
“If the wives could see how hard the guys play in these games, they’d never get away with any work that was done around the house because they put so much effort into the hockey,” Gill said. “We’re like little kids again.”